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Ok it seems that I was wrong - they do have a OAD coming out which is bundled with next PSP game. Game is scheduled for release in late June. PV below.

Also today there was a Dengeki event which included some Ro-Kyu-Bu second season information, most notably the announcement of the seiyuu of the 5th graders! So I guess we will definitely see them in action.

Awesome info as always, thank you very much! Now at least we know that we would be seeing the second unit in action.

While I wanted an all-star cast for the 5th graders (very wishful thinking, indeed), it's nice to see a cast of fresh new VAs in the latest anime. To me, it means the industry is committed to developing fresh new talents to keep itself alive in the future instead of settling with veterans
just because they help sell an anime.

As for Tsubahi having different VA's, maybe the intention is to differentiate the two, because they're pretty hard to tell from the images. If they get animated, at least we get to know which one is which.

I have a question about the PSP game. I know it's likely to be a VN-style game, but does it have a basketball section as well? I was thinking along the lines of a Story Mode where for example, Tomoka has to make 6+ points and shoot 60%+ from the field or Airi has to make 6+ points, 6+ rebounds, and 2+ blocks in a game.

Back to the basketball section...

Spoiler for #13 - Masami Fujii, SF:

I think that although she only had long-range shooting at first, she actually has the potential to be an SG/PF hybrid like Maho, but a defensive type to Maho's offensive type, judging from her strong defense against Rena Ashihara. She's pretty much like Shohoku's Hisashi Mitsui, Jordan-era Chicago Bulls' Scottie Pippen, and Los Angeles Lakers' Ron Artest a.k.a. Metta World Peace.

I have another question: Who's the primary ballhandler for the 5th graders? Hiiragi seems to be the best guess for me, but I want to make sure. Note that I didn't use the term "point guards" since many PGs nowadays are not the primary ballhandlers. Hinata is the starting PG of Keishin, but Saki, an SF, is the primary ballhandler. Thus, the concept of the point forward.

Spoiler for The Point Forward:

A forward, usually a Small Forward (SF), who has the skillset of a Point Guard (PG). An example of this in Slam Dunk is Kainan's Shinichi Maki, who is actually the team's starting point guard but plays center when their starting center, Takasago, is sitting on the bench.

Likewise, 6-foot-9 Magic Johnson is the starting point guard of the 1980's Los Angeles Lakers. His rival, Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, is an SF with considerable playmaking abilities. In the modern day, the best example of a point forward is LeBron James of the Miami Heat.

While I wanted an all-star cast for the 5th graders (very wishful thinking, indeed), it's nice to see a cast of fresh new VAs in the latest anime. To me, it means the industry is committed to developing fresh new talents to keep itself alive in the future instead of settling with veterans just because they help sell an anime.

Well it's a double-edge sword - the new comers are heavily promoted because they are part of the new generation of idol seiyuu thus it means they need to increase exposure so that they can sell more, OTOH this tends to push out some well known veterans which aren't top tier ie they don't get the leads but are fairly consistently in supporting roles and that increases the turn over rate which makes the competition more cut throat and but the tide generally favours the newer, younger and cuter newcomers. Good or bad really depends on how you look at it.

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As for Tsubahi having different VA's, maybe the intention is to differentiate the two, because they're pretty hard to tell from the images. If they get animated, at least we get to know which one is which.

Personally I think the fun would be preciously because that makes them hard to tell apart if they share the same seiyuu - sort of like how Shimoda Asami does both Ami/Mami in Idolmaster. But when I thought about it again taking consideration of commercial terms 5 people makes more sense. Why this is so is because I think there's a very good possibility that like how the 5 main seiyuu formed the group Ro-Kyu-Bu, they may be pushing for the 5th graders to get their own seiyuu singing group as well. That and they can also release one more character song CD too.

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I have a question about the PSP game. I know it's likely to be a VN-style game, but does it have a basketball section as well?

Although I've never played the first from videos I know it had basketball section, played in a strategy/command style way. I'd think they would keep it for the second game too.

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Back to the basketball section...

Spoiler for #13 - Masami Fujii, SF:

I think that although she only had long-range shooting at first, she actually has the potential to be an SG/PF hybrid like Maho, but a defensive type to Maho's offensive type, judging from her strong defense against Rena Ashihara. She's pretty much like Shohoku's Hisashi Mitsui, Jordan-era Chicago Bulls' Scottie Pippen, and Los Angeles Lakers' Ron Artest a.k.a. Metta World Peace.

Spoiler:

Masami does look more and more like Mitsui from Slam Dunk whom seem to shine mostly at long range with the occasional surprise play.
Subaru had mentioned that Masami's long range shooting is now a perfected special weapon and he doesn't want to dilute that part of her skill, so during training he focused on her other more basic abilities like dribbling and defense to round her out a bit more as a basketball player, however he didn't mention anything about other shooting training. But then again like previously said the 5th graders don't have as well defined positions right now except that Kagetsu is the definite centre.

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I have another question: Who's the primary ballhandler for the 5th graders? Hiiragi seems to be the best guess for me, but I want to make sure.

The tasks seems to be shared between Tsubahi the most then followed by Mimi. Kagetsu is the centre so she doesn't handle the ball much if at all, while Masami's job is to wait for that kick out ball opening so she doesn't handle the ball much either. This leaves Tsubahi doing the bulk of the passing with Mimi sometimes mixed in as well.

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Hinata is the starting PG of Keishin, but Saki, an SF, is the primary ballhandler.

Hinata was only PG for the very first match against the boys because there was no time to properly train them so Subaru had to compromise and make Saki SG (SF for that match was Tomoka). Since the Keishin vs Suzuritani's exchange match Saki is now full time PG with Hinata being the SF.

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Spoiler for The Point Forward:

A forward, usually a Small Forward (SF), who has the skillset of a Point Guard (PG). An example of this in Slam Dunk is Kainan's Shinichi Maki, who is actually the team's starting point guard but plays center when their starting center, Takasago, is sitting on the bench.

Likewise, 6-foot-9 Magic Johnson is the starting point guard of the 1980's Los Angeles Lakers. His rival, Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, is an SF with considerable playmaking abilities. In the modern day, the best example of a point forward is LeBron James of the Miami Heat.

Spoiler:

I think Mimi is shaping up to be the PF of the 5th graders, as Tomoka is her shisho whom is also the PF of the 6th graders (Tomoka is PF during the first Suzuritani match, as Saki only just learning to become PG during that match). After Mimi's defeat by Tomoka using team play her vision has expanded beyond winning one-on-one match ups and can keep her usually cool and observing nature, plus now that she's developed a deeper bond with the other 5th graders it seems like the author is priming her up for that sort of role when she's playing in the 5th graders only.
However when the author hinted that the Mimi/Tomoka team is a formidable weapon with Mimi playing assist to Tomoka, I think when there's the inevitable mix of 5th/6th graders Mimi would be playing SF while Tomoka remains SG, and they will be playing some sort of homage to Pippen/Jordan team.

Just curious, whatever happened to Miyu's arrogant attitude back in the anime's first season? Does she now recognize Keishin (and Tomoka) as a worthy opponent? Because it seems her old attitude is now passed on to Rena.

Also, I don't see much Natsuhi here. NatsuHina was a popular ship back then, but it's still no match for the Subaru/Tomoka ship. I wonder what does the guy say now that "the lolicon bastard" is coaching his sisters.

All I know atm is that the surnames of the other starters are Fukada, Kikuchi, Toshima, and Wakui.

In the anime, #13 was a girl in glasses, but she didn't get much playing time anyway. Maybe Rena was just recently recruited along with Aya? I'm guessing Rena is the bench SG or PF since she was matched up with Masami in the 2nd quarter of the official game between Keishin and Suzuritani.

Hmm, one thing I noticed in ST is that they don't have too many shooters, unlike Keishin. This strength is also their weakness since opposing teams can simply force them to shoot from long range with a well-placed zone defense.

Just curious, whatever happened to Miyu's arrogant attitude back in the anime's first season? Does she now recognize Keishin (and Tomoka) as a worthy opponent? Because it seems her old attitude is now passed on to Rena.

Pretty much this. I mean even during that match when she got sub out and then forced to watch from the sideline and then she apologized to get sub back in it was already the beginning of her change. I would think the fact that the 6th graders owning Suzuritani's secondary line up at that open comp back in volume 11 would have made Miyu reconfirming that Keishin is a worthy opponent.

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Also, I don't see much Natsuhi here. NatsuHina was a popular ship back then, but it's still no match for the Subaru/Tomoka ship. I wonder what does the guy say now that "the lolicon bastard" is coaching his sisters.

Natsuhi actually appears now and then to look at their training. Also in volume 12 by the request of Subaru he helped a great deal by mimicking some moves that Rena did to beat Tsubahi at the arcade centre and used them against Subaru (although Natsuhi only managed to pull of the between the leg passing move once), which made it possible for Subaru to draw up his plan to beat Rena. As for what he thinks about Subaru coaching his sisters - he actually doesn't mind so much because Tsubahi are little devils which even their parents couldn't handle so he doesn't think Subaru could take advantage of them at all, and because Tsubahi are really big brother-cons Natsuhi sometimes think they are a bit of a bother. I think Natsuhi is really only concerned about Hinata that's all.

While Miyu and Hagiran's position aren't mentioned so I put in the other possible position in brackets, but the other 3 members are mentioned and specific. I suppose with the way Miyu plays and the author mentioning that the PF's job is to follow up on Miyu Miyu's natural position would be the SF. In fact if you recall the first time Miyu mentioned that she worked hard to overcome her height deficiency with true skill to get her position and that SF being the position where height would actually matter more it is more fitting of why she would have said such a thing.

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Spoiler:

In the anime, #13 was a girl in glasses, but she didn't get much playing time anyway. Maybe Rena was just recently recruited along with Aya? I'm guessing Rena is the bench SG or PF since she was matched up with Masami in the 2nd quarter of the official game between Keishin and Suzuritani.

Spoiler:

The girl in glasses was a 5th grader. As mentioned before the Suzuritani 5th graders normally are only back ups which only gets to play one quarter in the match.

Rena had been recruited a long time ago but due to her poor personality she never shows up to training. As for her position it's ambiguous but I think it's probably right that she's going to be either SG or PF.

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Spoiler:

Hmm, one thing I noticed in ST is that they don't have too many shooters, unlike Keishin. This strength is also their weakness since opposing teams can simply force them to shoot from long range with a well-placed zone defense.

Spoiler:

You are right I think, and this also leaves a big opening for Keishin to win and help re-enforces the theme that Keishin has better team work and team spirit than Suzuritani, especially when Rena and Aya gets subbed in on a whim with little practice with the other team members.

Pretty much this. I mean even during that match when she got sub out and then forced to watch from the sideline and then she apologized to get sub back in it was already the beginning of her change. I would think the fact that the 6th graders owning Suzuritani's secondary line up at that open comp back in volume 11 would have made Miyu reconfirming that Keishin is a worthy opponent.

Natsuhi actually appears now and then to look at their training. Also in volume 12 by the request of Subaru he helped a great deal by mimicking some moves that Rena did to beat Tsubahi at the arcade centre and used them against Subaru (although Natsuhi only managed to pull of the between the leg passing move once), which made it possible for Subaru to draw up his plan to beat Rena. As for what he thinks about Subaru coaching his sisters - he actually doesn't mind so much because Tsubahi are little devils which even their parents couldn't handle so he doesn't think Subaru could take advantage of them at all, and because Tsubahi are really big brother-cons Natsuhi sometimes think they are a bit of a bother. I think Natsuhi is really only concerned about Hinata that's all.

So Tsubahi is RKB's version of Fred and George Weasley from the Harry Potter series, huh?

Well, that doesn't go without saying that Natsuhi has actually warmed up to Subaru after that "return Hinata's pantsu" mission.

While Miyu and Hagiran's position aren't mentioned so I put in the other possible position in brackets, but the other 3 members are mentioned and specific. I suppose with the way Miyu plays and the author mentioning that the PF's job is to follow up on Miyu Miyu's natural position would be the SF. In fact if you recall the first time Miyu mentioned that she worked hard to overcome her height deficiency with true skill to get her position and that SF being the position where height would actually matter more it is more fitting of why she would have said such a thing.

So this team reminds me of the 2001 Philadelphia 76ers, and Miyu and Rena both reminded me of Allen Iverson, one of the great NBA players of his time who could have gotten a championship ring if he had a positive attitude towards practice and training.

I see that the RKB Wiki is still pretty outdated. I would like to contribute to it when I got the time. Should I include the Suzuritani players, and then Keishin's second unit once they appear in Season 2?

Spoiler for Curious Question about Mimi:

Since it's stated that Mimi is the daughter of a friend of Subaru's father, does she live with Subaru or is she living somewhere else?

Spoiler for Keishin Private Academy - Elementary Department:

In contrast to Suzuritani, Keishin has a lot of shooters (Tomoka, Saki, and Maho for the starters) and strong center players (Airi and Kagetsu), making them a high-offense team with decently strong defense under Subaru's coaching.

Keishin's signature strategy is the Four-Out, One-In Offense. The main goal is to draw a double team to one player, usually the Center, so the other players would be left open for a jump shot. This works perfectly for them due to their team make-up. However, with the addition of more players into the team, they can try out more strategies suitable for any situation.

Two counters to this strategy are 3-2 zone defense and man-to-man defense. The 3-2 zone clogs the passing lanes to intercept passes to open players, while man-to-man ensures that no offensive player would be left open for an uncontested shot for as long as the defenders stick to their match-ups.

Keishin managed to counter ST's 3-2 zone defense with fast, short passes so that ST won't have enough time to anticipate Keishin's plays. For example, in Episode 11 of the anime's first season, Tomoka was able to draw herself into an area with a "zone" of defenders by driving towards the basket, so Maho was left open for a jump shot since her matchup was forced out into the "zone" to stop Tomoka.

If the smaller players can't get themselves open, like what would happen if the opposing team uses a man-to-man defense, the offense would now hinge on Airi and Kagetsu for the starting unit and the second unit, respectively. It's no wonder Airi shined in the first quarter of Keishin's official match against ST. Kagetsu is still under training, so she would be able to hold her own given enough time, though it would be nice for her to have a mid-range game to make her a really good PF/C when they reach 6th grade.

As mentioned above, Keishin's main weakness is lack of inside presence. Airi and Kagetsu are their only reliable inside players. Normally, a fast-paced offense does not allow for enough energy to play defense, and smaller defensive players can only do so much to guard bigger offensive players. However, KS players have a strong commitment to defense. Luckily, they have solid defensive anchors in Airi, Kagetsu, and Masami.

Spoiler for Start 3Q, Keishin - 21, Suzuritani 14:

ST would be more likely to field in Miyu, Aya, and Rena. Likewise, KS would be more likely to field in Tomoka, Mimi, Airi.

The choice of Keishin's other players however, may hinge on which other players ST would field in. If they field in Kumi, they would be pressed to

Good news is, Subaru has so many weapons in his arsenal, so to speak. He may field in Saki for better play-making, Hinata for slashing plays against bigger players like Aya and Kumi, Kagetsu for better inside presence just in case ST fields in both Aya and Kumi; and Masami for defense against Rena, though I'm also interested to see how Mimi would handle Rena.

My question is: If you were Subaru, what lineup would you use for the 3rd quarter, provided you can't substitute players unless injured?

Since it's stated that Mimi is the daughter of a friend of Subaru's father, does she live with Subaru or is she living somewhere else?

Spoiler:

Originally she was going to live with Subaru as her father (whom apparently is an otaku BTW) like Subaru's father Ginga has work stationed in Hawaii. Though before she even moved in Mimi's father managed to find work in Japan so she ended up never living under the roof of the Hasegawa resident.

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Spoiler for Start 3Q, Keishin - 21, Suzuritani 14:

ST would be more likely to field in Miyu, Aya, and Rena. Likewise, KS would be more likely to field in Tomoka, Mimi, Airi.

Spoiler:

I don't think Keishin will field in the 5th graders in the 3rd quarter, it's not Subaru's style to go unorthodox/outside of the original plan when faced with a surprise tactic, not to mention Keishin is also in the lead which would only mean Subaru would've been reassured that his game plan is still sound. As Subaru's usually pretty reactionary so he'll wait out to see what the effect of the Suzuritani's change of line up will mean before making up a counter plan. I think 3rd quarter would see Suzuritani with their new line up closing the gap or even over take Keishin first, at which point all of Suzuritani's cards would have played out, and then we would see Subaru using the aces up his sleeves.

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Spoiler:

My question is: If you were Subaru, what lineup would you use for the 3rd quarter, provided you can't substitute players unless injured?

Here's mine:

PG - Saki
SG - Mimi
C - Airi
SF - Tomoka
PF - Masami or Kagetsu

Spoiler:

For something a bit more unorthodox plus taking into consideration that they would probably have to take on Miyu, Rena AND Aya in the team at the same time I think it would look a bit more like this:
PG - Saki/Mimi
SG - Tomoka
C - Kagetsu
SF - Hinata
PF - Maho/Masami

While matching Airi up with Aya seems to be the most logical choice, psychologically speaking though Aya has an advantage because her desire to prove herself against Airi is much stronger than Airi which drove Aya to work extra hard to begin with. It was hinted that Hinata has a trick up her sleeve against Centre players so it makes sense to use Hinata to stop Aya's streak and damage her confidence first before pitting Airi up against Aya. Also with Kagetsu as Centre this gives the two sisters so team play opportunities.

For PG I think both Saki or Mimi would do the job well enough. With Suzuritani's make-shift team it probably won't be that difficult for either Saki or Mimi to make good play.

PF is the more difficult choice. Maho is more athletic and has a track record of playing well under pressure while Masami has the more potent weapon of long range shooting, however it's questionable whether Masami will have the same opening chance to take her signature shot when Suzuritani is likely going back to man-to defence now due to the make-shift team (the main reason Masami got so many shots in the 2nd quarter was because Rena wasn't playing defence at all, so it was essentially 5vs4 in 2nd quarter). So I think Maho seems to be the better choice. Also Masami still seems to have a bit of issue playing with Saki, so if Saki is PG I think Maho should be PF. But if Mimi is PG then Masami can be used instead.

Holy smoke, they look badass and adorable in that pic. And as expected, Kagetsu has gotten really taller between seasons. I guess she would be around 156cm in S2.

The novel hasn't disclosed any physical stats for the 5th graders unfortunately. Also read below....

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Huh, so Mimi is white-haired in this one? Awesome. We need more white-haired lolis nowadays.

Her hair is supposed to be silver coloured. Gray-ish is probably as good as it gets for anime colouring though.

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I see that Masami is drawn to be about as tall as Tomoka. So where do Tomoka, Maho, and Masami place in terms of height in the LNs?

No idea. But from the team shot in volume 12 which looks more or less to scale it actually looks like Masami is taller than Saki whom is the second tallest of the 6th graders at 148cm, followed by Maho at 145cm and Tomoka at 142cm. That would probably put Masami at 150cm.

As for Kagetsu you can probably judge her height relative to Airi. While we don't know exactly how tall Airi is, we do know that she's just a tad shorter than Subaru whom is 172cm and a fair bit taller than Aoi at 163cm, my guess would be Airi is probably around 168cm. I think this would make Kagetsu in the high 150s - maybe somewhere between 156-158cm, though 156cm looks like a good guess as I think it was mentioned than Kagetsu is roughly 10cms taller than Tomoka during the 5th graders match, give her another couple of cm for the few months between that and the Suzuritani match that seems reasonable.

My memory is a bit fuzzy, but when did the LN's introduce Keishin's second unit? I know that Kagetsu was introduced earlier, but I wanted to know when did they introduce the others (Mimi, Masami, the Takenaka twins).

Any information will be appreciated as I'm putting it on myself to update the RKB Wiki as long as I am able. Thank you.